All language subtitles for The.Rise.and.Fall.of.the.Roman.Empire.S01E01.The.Rise.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

[crowd cheering]

- At its height, Rome was
the greatest superpower

the world had ever seen.

[crowd chanting "Caesar"]

[dramatic music]

For nearly a thousand years,
Rome rules

everything it touches.

- Advance!

♪

[choir singing]

- The Romans were masters
of law, architecture, culture.

- I will show you
what we can do together!

- But they were also capable
of staggering brutality.

- [screaming]

- When they see a few of their
high priests eaten by lions,

they'll turn to our gods.

- [screaming]

- They wanted an empire
that stretched

to the very limits of the
known world and even beyond.

- Let the dice fly high!

[all grunting]

[horse whinnies]

- But no empire lasts forever.

♪

- Once Rome's emperors
gained absolute power,

it was inevitable that some
highly destructive individuals

would rise into that role.

- Commodus, this is madness.

- As it turns out,
Rome's greatest enemy

was not an invader.

It was itself.

♪

- The rise and fall of Rome
is a thousand different stories

of the quest for power.

People like Caesar,
Attila, and Spartacus.

♪

- It's all there--
the blood, the glory,

the magnificence,
and the flaws.

- Rome is ultimately
a cautionary tale to us.

You are never too big to fail.

- The story of Rome is
ultimately the story of us.

- Let the games begin!

♪

- According to tradition,
Rome was founded

in the 8th century BC

by a series of villages
unifying together

under the auspices
of an elected monarchy.

♪

Now, this monarchy lasted
until about 509 BC,

when the last Roman king
was driven off

by the Roman people,
who decided to instead create

a power-sharing system,
which they

referred to as the Republic.

- The Roman Republic
was largely

controlled by its aristocracy.

This was a powerful
group of families

who competed with one another
for the offices

that the Republic
had to offer.

But to achieve those offices,
they had to go out and fight.

War was the way that Roman
aristocrats made their name.

And before long,
this led to Rome becoming

the largest and most powerful
city in central Italy.

- The young Roman Republic
is ambitious and aggressive.

Over centuries, thanks to its
disciplined citizen army

and a network of alliances,

it gradually takes over Italy.

To keep growing,
it must confront

its first major rival,
Carthage, the richest state

in the western Mediterranean.

♪

- By the 3rd century,
Rome has

essentially run out of space.

They have no place
else to go now

but into the wider
Mediterranean,

where they are going to now
run into the next largest

regional superpower.

[warriors yelling,
weapons clashing]

- Rome's wars with Carthage
are the tipping point.

This is the gateway to empire

and the foundations upon which
the great Roman Empire

will be set.

♪

- The first war with Carthage
ended in a Roman victory.

And for a while,
they thought they

had crippled Carthage's
ability to make war.

[wind whistling]

But Carthage found
a new leader.

This is the general Hannibal.

Hannibal wanted
to strike the first blow

in a second war with Rome.

- He takes tens of thousands
of men and 38 war elephants,

and he marches them
up overland

from Spain across the Alps

and down through
northern Italy.

- The Carthaginians win
battle after battle.

Eventually, the armies meet
again at a place called

Cannae in southern Italy.

Its future on the line,
Rome has gathered its forces.

♪

Its army of 80,000
is the largest it has

assembled in history so far.

Facing them are
50,000 Carthaginian warriors

and their allies from across
the western Mediterranean.

[all yelling]

♪

- The Romans have
every reason to expect

success against Hannibal.

They have a much larger force.

But Hannibal has
something they don't,

and that is
extraordinary talent

and quality as a general.

[all yelling]

♪

- Hannibal's strategy
is to essentially allow

the Romans to charge
directly at his forces

and actually commands
the center of his line

to fall back
before the Roman onslaught.

[all yelling]

Then as soon as Hannibal sees
that the Romans

have driven
as far forward as they can...

♪

[horn blows]

He gives a signal.

♪

And the Carthaginian cavalry
engages the Roman line

in the rear, completely
surrounding them,

destroying the entire Roman army.

- [grunts]

- And he does so
in a single maneuver

on a single battlefield
in a single day.

♪

- Rome loses
a staggering 70,000 men,

more than 80% of its troops.

- The battle at Cannae
was a bloodbath.

And there are more people
killed in one battle

than all the Americans
killed in the Vietnam War.

- The horrific nature
of this battle

matches anything
in human history.

Imagine thousands
and thousands of men

clawing, scratching, cutting.

It would be something straight
out of a modern horror movie,

except on a much,
much larger scale.

♪

- Such a defeat
on the battlefield

should lead
to the Romans seeking terms

and the Carthaginians
imposing them.

♪

- If you count up all the
Romans who are lost in these

various battles
leading up to Cannae,

as well as Cannae itself,
they've lost about 150,000 men.

That's 1/5 of the entire
population of men in Rome.

The Roman historian Livy
wrote, "There is

"no other nation that could
have survived

such a calamity."

♪

- But Rome is different.

One of the officers who
survives the battle of Cannae

is Publius Cornelius Scipio.

He comes from a noble family,
and he is determined to fight.

♪

- Why are we talking of peace?

- We lost.
And now we await their terms.

- You dare--dare
speak of surrendering?

It need not be over yet.

♪

- Scipio is an embodiment
of this kind

of Roman spirit of carrying on,
of aggression

and the lust to win.

And so he rallies
the troops around him.

He emphasizes Roman values
like honor and discipline

to try to bring
everybody together.

And these are
qualities that will

turn Rome into the phenomenon
that it becomes.

[all yelling]

- For the next 15 years,
Hannibal and Scipio

battle for control of Italy.

The rival powers fight
themselves into a stalemate.

And Hannibal never
reaches the city of Rome.

- The Romans are very
fast learners when

it comes to their military.

They are very adept
at taking the best bits

from their enemies,
of analyzing their tactics

and their formations
and their troops

and assimilating those
into their own tactics

and to turn
the enemy's strengths

into Roman strengths as well.

♪

- Scipio breaks
the standoff in 204 BCE.

He invades North Africa,
forcing Hannibal

to leave Italy and defend
the capital city, Carthage.

Their final showdown
takes place at Zama,

where Scipio defeats
Hannibal using

the same maneuver
Hannibal unleashed on him

at Cannae 14 years earlier.

- One of the sad ironies
of Hannibal is that in the end,

he ends up being Rome's
military school master.

♪

- Hannibal
is eventually exiled,

reduced to fighting
as a mercenary

in the armies
of other countries,

and Rome is free
to expand at will.

♪

In the century
following Cannae,

Rome annexes Carthage
and much of North Africa.

Greece also becomes
a Roman province.

By 75 BCE, the Roman Republic
is roughly the size of Alaska,

controlling half a million square miles

from Spain to Libya.

- There are no rivals left.

This is a unipolar system,
much like the United States

after the Cold War, where
there's nobody left to fight.

This created an enormous
amount of opportunities

to exploit the conquered
territories.

[indistinct chatter]

- They're bringing in
the olive oil, the grain,

the minerals,
all these things.

And one of the most
important things

that they're also bringing in
at this time are slaves.

They're primarily drawn
from prisoners of war,

and they're all brought in to
serve this growing population.

♪

- An estimated 20%
of the population of Italy,

as many as 1 million people,
are now foreign slaves.

♪

- Slavery is nothing new
to the ancient world.

What's different is
the scale of Roman slavery.

This is slavery
on a massive scale.

- The fiercest men are forced
to become gladiators,

trained fighters whose low
status is dangerously at odds

with their lethal skills.

♪

[all yelling]

♪

- While ownership of thousands
or tens of thousands

of enslaved people
makes the Roman elite

extraordinarily wealthy,
this also

creates a ticking time bomb.

They're making them work
in incredibly harsh conditions.

Death rates are
extraordinarily high.

At a certain point, people
placed under those conditions

are going to rebel.

♪

- And in 73 BCE,
one enslaved gladiator

starts an uprising that will
transform the Republic.

- Spartacus.

My name is Spartacus.

♪

- Rome will expand
to take on the known world...

- For victory!
- [yells]

- And build a civilization
for the ages.

[crowd chanting "Caesar,"
lion roars]

The obstacles along the way
bring out the best

of Rome's strengths...

- The conquest of Gaul stands
as one of the most impressive

achievements in human history.

- And reveal its weaknesses.

- This is an amazing
power grab by Cleopatra.

But it's also a challenge
to Rome and the Romans.

♪

- By the 1st century BCE,
the Roman Republic

is on its way
to becoming an empire

when its ambitions
are nearly derailed.

- After the conquest
of Carthage,

the Romans have North Africa
and all its revenues

and its food sources
and new slaves,

more than they even know
what to do with.

It was exploitation,
pure and simple.

And this created
vast inequalities

and, as a result, rebellion.

- Spartacus.

My name is Spartacus.

- Spartacus is a bit
of an enigma to us.

It seems that he came
from Thrace.

- It's a place known
for great fighters,

so much so that the Romans
incorporate those fighters

into their military.

But ultimately,
he is sold into slavery.

And he ends up in
a gladiatorial school in Capua.

[crowd yelling]

- [grunting]

♪

[crowd chanting "Spartacus"]

♪

- No man would want to be
in that situation.

And if there was any
opportunity to get out of it,

you would.

- It's unclear how it starts,

but something prompts
the gladiators to rise up.

[keys rattling]

♪

- [gasping]

- [grunting]

♪

- Spartacus and about
70 slaves break out

and escape
into the countryside

armed with stolen weapons.

And soon their numbers
begin to grow.

♪

Rome responds by dispatching
a small militia

to put down
the burgeoning threat.

♪

But instead of running,
Spartacus and his band

make a stand on the slopes
of Mount Vesuvius.

♪

- Spartacus has his men
fashion ropes out of vines

that they find growing
on Mount Vesuvius

and launch a surprise attack
on the Romans.

- His men attack
the Romans from the rear.

And it quickly
becomes a massacre.

- [groans]

[all yelling,
weapons clashing]

♪

- The defeat at Vesuvius
was a complete surprise

to the Romans.

They weren't expecting
to be ambushed.

They thought they were
dealing with fugitives

and the fugitives would run
rather than that the fugitives

would take the fight to them.

♪

- It begins, after all,
as a prison break,

a relatively routine matter.

And suddenly, it leads
to a military defeat

in the heart of Italy.

This is something
that the Romans

can't afford to ignore.

- In a society that is based
at an economic level

around slavery, a slave revolt
is not just a threat.

It's an existential threat.

And having a charismatic
leader like Spartacus,

to whom all those thousands
and thousands

of enslaved people
can look for leadership,

creates a situation
where Rome's very existence

is at stake.

- Every slave
owner is thinking,

will my slaves be next?

Will they join Spartacus?

Just how far is
this going to go?

♪

- By the autumn of 73 BCE,
Spartacus' army is growing

at the rate of hundreds a day,

25,000 and counting, bolstered
by working-class Romans,

who have also been left
out of Rome's booming

post-Carthage economy.

♪

- Spartacus knows
that the Romans will

be bent on his destruction.

He has no choice
but to not only lead

but to train an army.

- [grunting]

- They had this
great mass of people

that could be slaughtered
if they fought as individuals.

So he took that time
that he had during the winter

to train his forces
and to turn them

into an army themselves

that could meet the Romans
on the field of battle

with a good chance of success.

♪

- As the rebels prepare,
the Roman Senate dispatches

two legions to crush them.

- Spartacus reportedly
has a massive following

across the entire
Italian peninsula.

So much so, in fact, that he
is able to potentially threaten

the city of Rome itself.

[all yelling]

- When the two sides meet,

it's the Romans
who are crushed.

♪

They flee back
to Rome in disarray,

leaving Spartacus to threaten
neighboring Sicily,

which grows
much of Rome's food.

♪

Panicked, the Senate turns
to Marcus Licinius Crassus,

a general known less
for battlefield victories

and more for being
the richest man in Rome,

having made a fortune
in property speculation.

- Crassus is the type
of politician

who will lead
to the destabilization

of the Roman Republic.

When you have very powerful,
very wealthy,

very influential Romans
working as individuals,

you start to upset
that power balance.

[soldiers chanting "Pompey"]

- Crassus' main
political rival

is the great general Pompey,
who at this point

has won a dozen
military victories.

And what Crassus hopes
to do is to

put down the Spartacus revolt
before Pompey

has a chance
to rally his forces,

thus robbing Pompey
of the glory.

This desire for glory
and unrestrained competition

is part of what
helps Rome's rise.

But it's also gonna store up
trouble for Rome to come.

♪

[all yelling,
weapons clashing]

♪

- In April 71 BCE,
Crassus' Roman legions

finally kill Spartacus
and defeat his army.

40,000 rebels die
in the fighting.

♪

[hammer banging]
- [screaming]

- Others suffer a worse fate.

- [screams]

- When Crassus
crucifies all 6,000

captured rebels
along the Appian Way,

Rome's warning is clear.

But the conditions
that created the uprising

aren't going away.

- It was now not so much
citizens versus noncitizens,

but it was haves
and have-nots.

And it's, in fact, part
of a pattern that plays out

many times in human history,
certainly into the 20th century

with czarist Russia,
into the 21st,

which is that
massive inequality

is going to lead to violence
and sometimes revolution.

♪

- As Pompey and Crassus
compete for glory...

- Pompey the Great.

Great at stealing credit
for other men's victories.

- They make a deal
with a young man who will

transform Rome itself.

- The three of us,
we'd be invincible.

- With Caesar, we have all of
the elements of family power,

political power, economic power
all coming together

in a single individual

at the very end
of the Republic.

♪

- After putting down
Spartacus' rebellion,

Pompey and Crassus return
to Rome, their rivalry

setting the stage for one
of the most consequential

Romans in history.

- The slave army is defeated!

[crowd cheering]

The gladiator rebellion
has been crushed!

[applause]

♪

- Pompey the Great.

Great at stealing credit
for other men's victories.

- Glory is for generals,
Crassus, not moneylenders.

- Pompey and Crassus
had hated each other

from the moment
they first met.

Crassus saw Pompey
as someone who was

undeserving of the glory
and credit he had received,

while Crassus had been
denied those same honors.

Pompey saw in Crassus
really the only major threat

to Pompey's exaltation.

- It's in this world
that a junior officer

by the name of Julius Caesar
takes his first steps

in Roman politics.

♪

Caesar was born into
an ancient family, the Julii,

which claims a divine origin.

- Julius Caesar believed
that he was descended

from Venus, the god of love.

Most Roman families,
patrician families,

believed that they had
a descent

from one of the gods.

- All Roman citizens belonged
to a complex class system

based on birth and wealth.

They could be patricians,
the old aristocracy;

equestrians,
who were once the cavalry

and are now
wealthy businessmen;

or plebeians, the commoners.

Although a patrician family,
the Julii have by this point

lost much of their wealth
and prestige.

Still, it hasn't dented
Caesar's personal ambition.

- In terms of Rome's
rise and fall,

well, Caesar is
the pivotal figure.

Rome's Republic
was not quite a democracy,

but Caesar really
took advantage

of all the cracks
in the system

and inserted himself
into them.

And this really paved the way

for the creation
of Rome's empire.

♪

- For two years,
Caesar builds his reputation

for political office.

He's intent on being a
populist, a man of the people.

And soon he turns
a genuine personal tragedy

into an opportunity
to advance.

♪

- In the summer of 69 BC, two
years after Spartacus' revolt,

his wife, Cornelia, dies.

We can't be sure exactly how,
but there's a very good theory

that it may have been
childbirth,

which did kill
up to 1/3 of women.

♪

- Caesar decides
to give her a public funeral.

Now, this is something
that generally

was not done for Roman women.

In Roman tradition,
funerals were a way

of displaying everything
that your family had done

on behalf of the Roman state.

♪

- My name
is Gaius Julius Caesar.

I've come here
to honor my wife.

I've also come here to make
a promise to you all.

- For Caesar,
this funeral oration

is a political awakening.

- My family has
the sanctity of kings.

But more than this,
I am one of you...

[crowd cheering]

A Roman!

- He announces
that he is going to

try to move forward,

to make things better for
the ordinary people of Rome.

- Join me!

- Yes!
- Yes!

- And I will show you
what we can do together!

[crowd cheering]

- And he doesn't care
who stands in his way.

His political aspirations
have never become clearer.

♪

- With financial
backing from Crassus,

Caesar enters the Senate,
the lawmaking assembly

of the 600 richest and most
influential men in Rome.

- Julius Caesar.

- Senators.

- For the next several years,
Caesar and Crassus

are both political allies
and economic partners.

Caesar has to rise
for Crassus to be paid back.

And now only one office
remains for Caesar

to take, the consulship.

- So the consuls acted
as the commander in chief

of the Roman military.

They were proposing
all bills to the Senate.

The consuls also acted
as the chief judicial officer.

They were the ones
who passed judgments

and who executed punishment.

- As Crassus buys
influence in Rome,

Pompey's conquests expand
the Republic's territory.

It's now larger
than it's ever been.

And with the two men
perpetually at odds,

Caesar seized an opportunity
to continue his own rise.

♪

- Caesar is an incredibly
savvy political operator.

Roman politics is a snake pit,

and Caesar navigates it
with incredible dexterity.

♪

- You two should be the most
powerful men in Rome,

but you put all of your energy
into fighting each other.

What if instead,
you worked for each other?

- Why would we?

- Back me to become consul,
and I'll make sure

the Senate works for you.

The three of us...

[laughs] We'd be invincible.

[thunder booming]

- The secret deal
that Caesar persuades

Pompey and Crassus to agree to
is called the triumvirate.

It literally means
"rule of three."

Individually,
they've all been able to get

some of what they want
but never all of it.

Together they can dominate
Roman politics

for years to come.

- With the alliance's backing,

Caesar sets his sights
on conquest...

- It becomes an opportunity for
Caesar to engage militarily.

- As a route to seizing
supreme authority.

- For Caesar, Gaul is
a powder keg of warring tribes

ready to explode.

If he's able to conquer
this territory,

he could become the wealthiest,
most powerful man in Rome.

♪

♪

- 450 years
into Rome's Republic,

three rivals come together
to rise to share power.

But one, Julius Caesar,
has bigger plans.

- Caesar immediately
leans on his deal

with his fellow members
of the triumvirate,

Crassus and Pompey, to make
sure he's elected consul.

♪

- Caesar knows he only
has one year as consul.

From day one, he sets out
to pay back his allies

and build a power base
for the future.

- The first law Caesar
has to pass as consul

is a land bill that gives
land to Pompey's veterans.

- The land is there
to be farmed.

- The former soldiers
of Pompey risked

their lives
for the Roman Republic

but are now reduced to poverty.

Pompey wants to give them
farms as a reward.

- Should it not be
given to destitute men

who once fought for us all?

- [clears throat]

- Cato, you wish
to support my bill?

- Cato is one of the leading
members of the optimates,

the conservative.

He is perhaps the most
conservative man in Rome.

- Cato has a kind
of personality cult going on.

He has a very distinctive
way of dress,

what he imagines was
the attire

of the earliest leaders
of Rome.

He goes barefoot
and even commando.

And he does this
to style himself as a man

who is returning
to simpler days.

But really, what he's doing
is representing the aims

of a very small group
of aristocrats.

- Cato's faction wants
to maintain the status quo

and the policies
that favor the rich,

while Caesar's land reform

promises to redistribute
the wealth.

- Consul, there is much
to admire in this land bill.

Your hand is elegant.

The papyrus
is of the finest quality.

[laughter]

But it would be
a very grave mistake

to set such a precedent
at this point in time.

- Like senators
in the United States today,

Roman senators could
effectively stop legislation

simply by talking...

- There are points aplenty

that are wrong with this text.

- And talking.

Cato is a master
at the filibuster.

- That's enough, Cato.

♪

- Maybe one that--what is this?
What is this?

[all clamoring]

- Let us give
the honorable senator

some time alone
to think about the land bill.

- Caesar sends attendants
to manhandle Cato

and lead him off
towards the prison,

hoping that this will simply
stop Cato in his tracks.

- Before I was
so rudely interrupted...

[laughter]

- Caesar doesn't have
the power to keep Cato there

for very long, but he's
broadcasting a message.

♪

He is not above
using violence

to get what it is
that he wants.

So he wields
a very heavy stick.

And the optimates
hate him for it.

♪

- Over the next year,
Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus

resort to any means necessary,
legal and illegal,

to push through their agenda.

But Caesar's term
as consul is just

step one in his pursuit of
a new kind of power in Rome.

And he's already
eyeing the next level.

♪

- We don't have much more
time with you as consul.

What comes next?

- I need a border province,

one with a military command.

- Caesar's plan
is to get a governorship.

He would be immune
from prosecution.

Perhaps more importantly
for Caesar is,

he doesn't have military glory
at a larger scale,

and that's what he would get
if he became a governor.

- Where do you propose?

♪

- With help
from Pompey and Crassus,

Caesar becomes governor
of Italian Gaul.

At this time,
Rome's territories

surround the Mediterranean,
with Italian Gaul

the northernmost province.

- So while Italian Gaul
is under Roman control,

the rest of Gaul is a wild,
independent area

that covers France, Belgium,
the Netherlands,

even up to the Rhine River
in Germany.

- For Caesar,
Gaul is not only a vast,

untapped reserve of wealth.

It's a powder keg of warring
tribes ready to explode.

If he's able to conquer
this territory,

he could become the wealthiest,
most powerful man in Rome.

♪

- It's also
the Roman Republic's

best opportunity
to enrich itself

since it plundered Carthage.

And a few weeks after
Caesar takes command,

an opportunity
presents itself.

♪

- Speak.

- The Helvetii
are a tribe living

in modern-day Switzerland,

but they're looking
for somewhere else to go.

- As the Helvetii migrate,
they clash with other tribes.

There's violence,
and there's death.

Some of these tribes
are allied to Rome.

- Those loyal tribes will
come to Caesar seeking help.

And it becomes an opportunity

for Caesar
to engage militarily.

♪

[all yelling]

- As the Helvetii
continue their migration,

Caesar intercepts.

[all yelling,
weapons clashing]

[fire crackling]

- This really isn't
a great military conquest

on Caesar's part so much
as it is an atrocity.

♪

But Caesar is able
to turn this into a story

of a military victory that
helps make him popular in Rome.

[horns blow]

- Defeating the Helvetii

supercharges Caesar's fortunes...

- For victory!
- [yells]

- For victory!

- Caesar's cavalry forces
slam into the rear

of the Gallic army, taking them
completely by surprise.

- And puts Rome's fate
in his hands.

- Now he begins to lose
his mind with hubris.

This was a man
who used to be a reformer,

and now he just wants
absolute power.

- [grunting]

- That hunger for power
sets the stage

for the empire to come

and for tyranny to replace
the centuries-old Republic.

- By the 1st century BCE,

the Romans have extended
their rule

all around the Mediterranean,

transforming the conquered lands

with paved roads, aqueducts,
and dozens of new cities.

But they have no intention
of stopping there.

Now Caesar turns
Rome's armies north.

- Just months after
defeating the Helvetii,

Caesar decides to go for broke.

He wants all of Gaul.

♪

- It's a huge gamble
for Caesar.

He's miles from home.

The tribes outnumber
his troops.

And he doesn't have proper
supply lines for his army.

And yet for him,
it's worth the gamble.

♪

- Over the next years,
his troops venture

deeper into Gaul.

He even takes his men
over the Rhine

into Germany and across
the channel to Britain,

going where no Roman
has ever been before.

In some ways,
this is a publicity stunt.

♪

- Caesar encouraged
the men personally,

ordering the men
to open ranks

so they might use
their swords more easily.

- Caesar manages the narrative
of the Gallic War

back in Rome in a way
that's absolutely classic.

- Every man was eager
to do well

in his commander's... sight.

- He does so by writing
his own history.

But Caesar turns it
into something new,

exciting, even cinematic.

- He snatched a shield

from a soldier at the rear

and walked straight
to the front line.

- And his reports are read
to the people of Italy

in public year after year,

glorifying Caesar's
achievements in Gaul.

- "So he snatched a shield
from a soldier at the rear,

made his way
to the front line."

♪

- Caesar's popularity
with ordinary Romans grows

with every report
that he sends back.

To them, he is the hero
defending the glory of Rome.

- While Rome's power grows,
senators like Cato

see Caesar's appeal
as a growing threat.

- Senators,
what he is doing in Gaul

is completely against the law.

- Cato is already making
the argument

that Caesar
has violated Roman law.

- This is not war.

This is crime.

- Cato can't
actually do anything

as long as Caesar is governor

and as long as he has the
support of Crassus and Pompey.

But if that situation
should change,

then Cato can strike.

♪

- By the mid-50s BCE,

the triumvirate
starts to come apart.

It begins with a hammer blow
for Caesar--

the death
of his daughter Julia,

whom he had given in marriage
to Pompey five years before.

- Not only is this
a personal tragedy.

It's also politically
very dangerous

because she had cemented
the alliance with Pompey,

and that was part of the gel

joining the triumvirate
together.

But all that
has suddenly gone.

- To make matters
worse for Caesar,

not long after Julia's death,
Crassus is killed

on a military expedition
in modern-day Iran.

The legend has it
that he was killed

by having molten gold
poured down his throat

by an enemy who had heard
of his love of money.

♪

- In 52 BC,
a new threat emerges,

Vercingetorix,
son of a chieftain

who is very charismatic.

He is intent on liberating
his people from Roman rule.

- The entire population of Gaul

is estimated to be
around 5 million.

[crowd chanting]

This is a population
that far outstrips

the army that Caesar
has deployed and, in fact,

would present
a direct threat...

- Who is with me?

- To the Roman Empire itself.

[crowd chanting]

- Vercingetorix fights
Caesar for six months

until finally,
he brings things to a head

at a place called Alesia.

♪

- The Battle of Alesia
will either end or secure

the Roman control over Gaul.

With Caesar's men
heavily outnumbered,

it's the latest test
of Rome's military power.

- Comrades, everything
we've been fighting for

for the past seven years
is now on the line.

We must fight!

And we must win!

Victory or death!

Which will you choose?

- For victory!
- [yells]

[all yelling,
weapons clashing]

- [grunting]

- [yells]

♪

- Caesar's cavalry forces slam

into the rear
of the Gallic army,

taking them
completely by surprise,

spreading panic throughout
their entire ranks.

- They think that they're
completely surrounded

by the Roman army,
and they start fleeing.

[all yelling]

♪

- As men start to run
for their lives

rather than fight
for their lives,

Roman cavalry
will ride them down,

and it becomes a bloodbath.

♪

[horns blow]

♪

- After seven years of war,

Caesar crushes Gallic
resistance once and for all

and accepts
his enemy's surrender.

- Caesar's conquest
of Gaul stands as one

of the most impressive
achievements in human history,

the fact that he has
really a minimal amount

of manpower to pull off
this huge campaign.

♪

- Caesar's conquest of Gaul
adds more than 300,000 miles

to Roman territory.

Rome now extends from
the Atlantic Ocean in the west

to the River Rhine
in the east.

♪

- He himself claimed
to kill 1 million people

in the conquest of Gaul

and to have enslaved
1.1 million people.

He killed or enslaved, what,

20% of the entire population
of northern Europe.

And we have to be
reminded of that

because we're
so preconditioned

by the shape of history

to think of Caesar
as a remarkable figure.

It's absolutely incredible.

- Our great Caesar

hurried to join into the...

- After his total victory
at Gaul,

Caesar's popularity
with ordinary Romans

goes higher and higher.

- They regard him now
as the very definition

of a successful Roman warlord.

- The conspicuous
color of the cloak

he always wore into battle
proclaimed his arrival.

[crowd cheering]

Massive slaughter followed.

- Caesar wants to return
to Rome in triumph.

He wants to win
a second term as consul

and be Rome's
undisputed first man.

But Caesar has a problem.

♪

Cato has different plans
for how Caesar's life

will turn out.

- This is too much power
for any man, let alone Caesar.

Can we forget how he behaved
when he was consul?

♪

I move that Caesar
be stripped of his command.

[all yelling]

- The Roman Senate
backs Cato and Pompey

and declares Caesar
a public enemy...

- Who is in favor?

[all yelling]

- Leaving Caesar to face
the most consequential

decision of his life.

♪

- The Rubicon was a river,
so small at the time,

it was more like a stream,
about 200 miles north of Rome.

And the reason this stream was
so important was, it marked

the boundary
between Italian Gaul

and territory directly
controlled by Rome itself.

- Caesar can either surrender
or march on the capital.

What he decides
will mark a turning point

in Rome's rise...

- Let the dice fly high!

[all cheering]

- And Caesar's fall.

- [groans]

[water rushing]

♪

- It isn't too late.

Any man who wishes
to turn back,

go now with no dishonor.

But cross this stream,

and we are fighting
all the way to Rome.

Are you with me?

all: We are with you, Caesar!

- According to one source,

Caesar quotes a line
from Greek drama

as he prepares
to cross the Rubicon...

- Let the dice fly high!

[all cheering]

- "Let the dice fly high."

In other words, let's take
a risk and come what may.

[soldiers chanting]

♪

- Crossing the Rubicon
is treason.

Caesar is putting
his dignitas,

or personal prestige,
above all else.

He drives his legions
deeper into Italy,

toward the capital city
of Rome itself.

- Caesar makes one
final offer to Pompey.

They'll both leave Italy,
and they'll

leave things for the Senate
and the other bodies

of Roman political society
to figure out.

We don't know how Pompey
reacts to this,

but we know
how the Senate does.

- No, his offer
will not be accepted.

Caesar needs
to face punishment.

And that means you
crushing him in battle.

- Then we need
to leave the city.

- I will not run.

- He is approaching right now
with his entire army.

We don't have enough
loyal soldiers in Italy

to defend Rome.

We must leave the city.

Anyone who stays
to welcome Caesar

is a traitor to the Republic.

♪

- When Caesar hears Pompey
and the Senate have fled Rome,

he pursues them
through southern Italy

and on to Pharsalus
in Greece,

where his veteran legions
face down

Pompey's
hastily assembled army.

- This day
will decide everything.

I order you now, advance!

[all yelling]

[all chanting "Caesar"]

- Pompey's men have not
fought together before,

whereas Caesar's men
have tasted victory before.

They have greater confidence.

They smash through
Pompey's line.

[all yelling]

♪

- Realizing that he
has lost the battle,

Pompey decides to flee.

It's his only chance to live
and fight again another day.

♪

- Caesar stays on Pompey's
heels, following him

through Greece and Cyprus to
the ancient kingdom of Egypt,

where both men hope
to find support.

♪

- When Caesar arrives
in Egypt,

the country
is tearing itself apart.

The boy king, Ptolemy Theos,

is at war with his
older sister, Cleopatra.

With the help of his regent,
the eunuch Pothinus,

Theos manages to oust
Cleopatra from power for now.

♪

- Majesty, I understand

my countryman Pompey
is here in Egypt.

I only wish to speak with him.

- Caesar, please, join us.

We have a gift for you.

♪

- Pompey is stabbed
to death and beheaded.

The Egyptian rulers at the time
saw the Battle of Pharsalus

as decisive in the civil war.

And they wanted to curry favor
with the new overlord

of the Roman world.

♪

- Caesar has his rival buried
with proper Roman rites.

And with that,
his victory is complete.

♪

His bitter enemy Cato
takes his own life.

♪

Finally, after more
than ten years,

Caesar returns to Rome,

not as a rebel
but as its ruler.

[crowd cheering]

♪

Rome's empire under Caesar
now stretches

more than 2,500 miles,

from the Atlantic Coast

to the River Euphrates
in Syria.

And Rome's rise
seems unstoppable.

- Julius Caesar is bestowed
with the highest honor

that a Roman official
could receive, a triumph.

It's an extensive
military parade

that welcomes him
back into the city.

- Caesar has his
face painted red

because for
one afternoon only,

the triumph symbolizes
that this one man

is being given the privilege
of becoming a god.

♪

- It's a very clever way
of saying,

there's something
godlike about me,

and that could certainly be
a comment

on what the Romans
thought of themselves.

- Part of it also
is religious.

By this time,
Romans believed that it was

the gods' will that Rome
should rule the world.

[crowd cheering]

- Caesar has the Senate
declare him dictator.

At this point, the Senate
has no fight left in it.

Caesar has won.

- Dictator is a form
of exceptional power

that was supposed
to be temporary.

Caesar is using this
as a fig leaf

to hide the fact
that there are no limits

to his influence and power.

- For Caesar, the only
place he has left to go

is to become
an outright king

and fulfill
that political mission

that he had set for himself
years previously.

- At a public festival,
he has Mark Antony

try to crown him to see
how the crowd will react.

- The people ask me
to give Caesar this crown.

♪

- Caesar is gambling
that the Roman people

will accept him
as their first king

in nearly five centuries.

[crowd booing]

It's a wager that backfires.

♪

- Jupiter alone
is king of the Romans.

I'm no king

but only Caesar.

[applause]

- Senators could never
accept the possibility

of a king in Rome.

That would be the death
of the Republic,

the death of everything
that they held sacred.

For them, this would be
a line that they would

never be willing to cross.

♪

- One month after
the failed crowning,

on March 15th...

[thunder booming]

The ides of March,

Caesar is invited to meet
a group of senators.

♪

- One of the leaders of
the conspiracy against Caesar

is a man named Marcus Brutus.

♪

- Caesar, please, petition.

- [groans]

- [grunting]

- [groaning]

♪

Even you, my son?

[dagger clatters]

- The words that are known
throughout the world

as being Caesar's final words
are, "Et tu, Brute?"

"And you, Brutus?"

But these words don't originate

in the ancient sources.

They actually originate
with Shakespeare.

- Every gambler will tell you
that eventually,

their luck
is going to run out.

Caesar gambled and gambled
and gambled until eventually,

he lost.

♪

- As the Republic dissolves,
the struggle between

Caesar's heirs is about
to descend into civil war.

- Octavian and Antony
split the empire between them.

- Now dangerous power plays...

- Octavian recognizes
that Cleopatra is now a threat.

- Culminate
in a decisive battle

that ushers
in an age of emperors.

- It really reshapes
what the world will look like

for centuries
and millennia to come.

♪

- Caesar's assassins
are hoping to kill him

and to bring
the old Republic back.

In practice,
the result is a disaster.

The assassins do not

successfully restore
democracy.

- When Caesar dies,
there are just

too many ambitious,
powerful men around him.

There's Mark Antony,
who thinks of himself

as his protégé.

- Mark Antony
is a relative of Caesar's

and had been
his most trusted general

from the conquest of Gaul

all the way through
to the recent civil war.

♪

Soon after Caesar's
assassination,

Mark Antony presents Caesar's
will to the Roman public.

- "To the people of Rome,
I leave 75 denarii each.

"The rest of my estate
will fall to my pr"--

♪

"To my principal heir,
Gaius Octavius.

- The big winner
in Caesar's will

is his grandnephew,
Gaius Octavius.

He is named as Caesar's heir,

heir to most
of Caesar's fortune,

and Caesar offers him
posthumous adoption.

- Octavian is just 19
by this point

and completely inexperienced.

But he and Mark Antony
join forces

and hunt down
Caesar's assassins.

- After the defeat of Caesar's
assassins on the battlefield,

Octavian and Antony
split the empire between them.

- So Mark Antony controls
the eastern part

of the empire,
which includes Greece

and Syria and Turkey
and Libya.

Octavian rules
the territories to the west,

like Gaul and Spain.

And he's basically
close to Rome,

where he can
cultivate his image.

♪

- But the unnatural alliance
between the two men

is short-lived.

Both want to be the sole ruler
of all Roman lands.

[gull calling]

- In order to shore up
his position

against Octavian,

Antony decides to engage
in military campaigning.

This, for the Romans, is the
classical way of getting ahead.

This is a way for Antony
to stay in the forefront

of Roman politics.

♪

To do this, though,
he needs resources.

And so, as many Roman generals
have in the past,

he turns to Egypt.

♪

- Since Egypt's
not a Roman province,

it's open territory
for either man.

♪

Its ruler, Cleopatra,
came back to power

after an affair with Caesar.

Their son, Caesarion,
shares her throne.

♪

For Antony,
Egypt and its wealth

can fund armies
and tip the balance.

And Cleopatra, looking
to secure her position,

aims to impress.

♪

- Cleopatra has
to charm Antony.

She has to form
an alliance with him.

And she knows that
the best form of alliance

is a personal one.

♪

- Please.

- Antony was a partier.

He was a ladies' man.

He liked to drink.
He liked to gamble.

He liked pleasure.

And so she's really speaking
right to Antony's soul.

♪

- Antony falls in love
with Cleopatra.

And what emerges
is one of the most passionate

love affairs ever recorded
in the ancient world.

♪

- But their alliance
is also military.

In 36 BCE,
backed by Cleopatra's gold,

Antony invades
neighboring Parthia,

aiming to expand his lands
and assert his position

as Rome's first man.

[all yelling,
horses whinnying]

[weapons clashing]

Parthia is a formidable empire
in its own right,

which had crushed Crassus'
legions 17 years before.

- Keep formation!

- Antony is forced to retreat

after suffering
heavy casualties.

♪

But he still returns to Egypt
to celebrate a triumph

by Cleopatra's side

and openly defy Octavian
in Rome.

♪

- They are claiming rule
over a kingdom

that stretches
from the Nubian Desert

to southwest Asia

to eastern Mediterranean
to Europe.

I mean, they were claiming
lands, namely Parthia,

that they hadn't even
conquered yet.

♪

- This is an amazing
power grab by Cleopatra,

but it's also a challenge
to Rome and the Romans.

♪

- When news of their claim
reaches Rome,

it's one statement
in particular

from Antony and Cleopatra

that pushes Octavian
to his breaking point.

- "At the end
of the ceremony..."

[crowd cheering]

- "The royal couple

presented a teenage boy
to the adoring spectators."

- We present you,
Ptolemy Caesar...

- "The one and only heir..."

- To the late Julius Caesar.

♪

- Octavian sees himself as
the true heir of Julius Caesar.

So he sees Caesarion being
named as the heir of Caesar

as a personal insult.

- At the very least,
Octavian recognizes

that an ascendant Egyptian
empire is a potential reality.

He recognizes that Cleopatra
is now a threat.

♪

- He is clearly
under the spell

of the foreign witch,
Cleopatra!

- The Romans are
weary of civil war,

and so they might not look
too kindly upon the idea

that Octavian is trying
to spark another war

against a fellow Roman.

Instead, he's able
to paint Cleopatra

as the real enemy of state and
Antony essentially as her dupe.

♪

- The Senate backs Octavian.

And in 31 BCE,
the two opposing navies,

totaling nearly
1,000 warships,

meet near Actium
in western Greece.

It's one of the largest
naval battles in history.

Fighting lasts all day, until
Antony and Cleopatra's fleet

loses its formation.

Panic sets in, and they
abandon their burning ships.

They've lost.

- The impact of Actium
on Cleopatra and Mark Antony

is catastrophic.

Most of the army
defects to Octavian.

So they are not going
to recover from this loss.

And the dream of Egypt at
the center of a world empire

has been shattered.

- Like other great battles,

such as Waterloo
or Gettysburg,

it really reshapes
what the world will look like

for centuries
and millennia to come.

♪

- Rather than surrender
to Octavian,

Antony and Cleopatra
kill themselves.

She's the last
independent ruler

in Egypt's 3,000-year history.

Her 17-year-old son,
Caesarion,

is murdered
on Octavian's orders.

And the once mighty
kingdom of Egypt

becomes yet another
Roman province.

♪

Rome once more has one
undisputed ruler, Octavian.

♪

Under him,
the Republic is at an end,

but the stage is set
for the Roman Empire

and a new,
complicated era of glory.

- Let the games begin!

- Octavian, now known
as Caesar Augustus,

meaning "venerable,"
becomes Rome's first emperor.

He reigns for 40 years
and extends Rome's territories

in every direction.

[warriors yelling,
weapons clashing]

Eight centuries
after its founding,

Rome rules supreme
over most of Europe,

North Africa,
and western Asia.

It has tripled in size
in just a century

and is now twice
the size of Alaska.

- It's a colossal empire,

one of the largest
the world's ever known.

♪

- Augustus passes
power to his heirs,

known as
the Julio-Claudian dynasty--

Tiberius, Claudius,
Caligula, and Nero.

The dangers of one-man rule
become evident.

- Nero, of course,
has a terrible reputation.

He had built himself
the biggest palace

that had so far been built
by the emperors,

the Golden House.

- Nero's Golden House
was absolutely enormous.

About 200 acres, it's the size
of 40 Manhattan blocks,

all of it in the most valuable
real estate

in the Roman world.

The people of Rome
and the Senate of Rome

were not happy
about the construction

of the Golden House
because what had previously

been at least semipublic space

that had been open
to other Romans

into something
that was reserved

just for this one person,

that was deeply offensive
and deeply troubling.

♪

- In the end,
Nero's selfish extravagance

drives the Senate
to declare him a public enemy,

and he takes his own life.

- After Nero's death,
the Roman Empire

was convulsed by a series
of brief but quite violent

and quite disruptive
civil wars.

There was a year
of four emperors.

- And it's at this point
that everyone

looks to somebody reliable
and competent to take control,

and they naturally think of
the successful, rather boring,

rather unglamorous general
Vespasian,

who's putting down
the Jewish rebellion,

and hail him as emperor.

♪

- Vespasian has a plan
to stay in power--

use Roman engineering
to reshape the city

and build something
for the people.

- Vespasian wants to show
that he's the anti-Nero.

And so he's gonna build the
greatest entertainment center

that Rome has ever had,

an amphitheater, the Colosseum.

♪

- He wants
to completely destroy

most of the Golden House,
drain the artificial lake

that was one of the beauties
of the Golden House,

and build this Colosseum
smack on that site

where the lake once was.

♪

- So the place that had
belonged to the emperor

and that was private
will actually belong

to the entire Roman people.

♪

- The Roman writer Juvenal
sums up

how the Colosseum
could keep the people

loyal to their rulers.

♪

- Juvenal famously said
that bread and circuses

were all that an emperor needed
to do to lead the Roman people.

The bread was a reference
to the official Roman dole,

or handout, of wheat.

Along with keeping them full,
you needed

to have games that keep
their attention away

from the problems
of daily life.

Karl Marx's famous
statement about religion

is the opiate of the masses,

well, circuses were the opiate
of the masses

in Roman times.

[crowd yelling]

- The Colosseum
will also showcase

the extraordinary skill
of Rome's builders,

who are already leaving
their mark across the empire.

- The Roman engineers
are really at the heart

of Roman power
and her ability to expand.

They're the ones
who design war machines,

but they're also
the ones who provide

roads, bridges, aqueducts,

everything that you need
to expand.

- The Roman Empire
was a real opportunity

for anyone
in the construction business

because Rome was essentially
one big construction zone.

♪

- The Colosseum
is their showpiece,

and the whole of Rome was
fascinated by this building.

The scale of it was bigger than
anything ever built before.

♪

- In the first year
of construction,

we're told that workers,
by hand,

dug out 220,000 tons of dirt

to create
30-foot-deep foundations.

♪

- The amount of material
that had to be moved around

to make this happen
is mind-boggling.

Stone that's coming in
is coming from 19 miles away,

from modern-day Tivoli.

3.5 million cubic feet
in 6-ton blocks.

♪

Now, this travertine
faced a brick structure,

and it's a million bricks
that went into the Colosseum.

And on top of this,
you need clamps

to hold the stones in place.

And that amounts to 300 tons
alone of iron clamps.

♪

- But it's another material
that makes the Colosseum

and other key Roman building
projects a success--

concrete.

- Something that the Romans
didn't invent, per se,

but they certainly
perfected it.

And the way they perfected this
was by mixing in volcanic ash,

especially from Mount Vesuvius,
near Pompeii.

And this created
a building material

that was both strong
and flexible.

♪

The fact the Colosseum
is still standing today

is a testament
to Roman concrete.

♪

- It's not a very
kind of glamorous substance,

but there is no doubt
that it

completely changed
the fortunes of Rome.

♪

- Beyond the concrete,
the Colosseum

relies on an endless supply
of slaves,

whose situation
has hardly improved

since Spartacus' rebellion
150 years earlier.

♪

- The slaves are integral to
the building of the Colosseum.

They ultimately
are the machine by which

the Colosseum is constructed.

Life for them
is extremely difficult.

♪

The enslaved people

were basically treated
as human livestock.

Hundreds, if not thousands,
of these enslaved persons

will die in the construction
of the Colosseum.

♪

- And the Colosseum is the
product of another conquest.

♪

- We know the funding source
because over the main gate

to the Colosseum, it said,
"Built from the spoils of war,

a new amphitheater."

- When Vespasian
becomes emperor,

he leaves Titus, his son,
to destroy Jerusalem.

And Titus does this
absolutely pitilessly.

He breaks into the temple,
massacres everybody,

enslaves everybody else,
and really destroys

the sort of Jewish state.

The building of the Colosseum
is completely connected

and based
on the successful crushing

of the Jewish revolt in Judea
in today's Israel.

♪

- The Arch of Titus
that stands just outside

the Colosseum memorialized
Titus' victory over Judea

and the sacking of Jerusalem.

This was the source
of the wealth

and many of the people
who were enslaved

and became the builders
of that Colosseum itself.

[thunder booming]

♪

- Yet when Emperor Vespasian
dies in 79 CE,

his bold vision
is not complete.

♪

It will fall to his heirs
to finish the project.

When they're done,
the Colosseum

will help usher in an age
of greatness and barbarity.

- [screaming]

- Roman power,
at its most brutal,

was continuously reenacted.

The play of empire,

the act of conquest
that brought it into being.

♪

- The Colosseum
is the Roman Empire

distilled to its most basic essence.

- 79 CE, Titus inherits
a vast and powerful empire

and the greatest building site
Rome has ever seen.

♪

Within a year, he brings
the project to completion.

[crowd cheering]

- The building
of the Colosseum,

especially the replacement
of the Golden House,

gave a huge statement
to the people of Rome.

And that is like,
this is a huge palace,

an extravaganza
of popular entertainment.

This is the glory of Rome,
and it's for you.

- Let the games begin!

[crowd chanting "Caesar"]

♪

- Although there are hundreds
of amphitheaters

in the Roman world
at that time,

in size and scale and scope,

the Colosseum
was the ultimate.

This was a magnificent
structure to behold.

♪

- As gladiators and their
contests grew in popularity,

they might have
reenacted historical

or mythological events
in Rome's history.

You might have reenactments
of battles

from the Punic Wars
against Carthage.

You might have reenactments
of Caesar in Gaul.

You have all of this
vast array of historical

and mythological battles
to draw upon.

[crowd cheering]

- Roman power,
at its most brutal,

was continuously reenacted.

The play of empire,

the act of conquest
that brought it into being.

♪

- The Colosseum
is the Roman Empire

distilled to its most basic essence.

[crowd cheering]

- It is a symbol of conquest.

It's a symbol of dominance.

It's a symbol
of imperial power

radiating throughout
the Roman world.

♪

- As a showcase for the power
of the emperors,

the Colosseum
also reveals the dangers

of a weak or unfit ruler.

♪

Weeks after the opening games,
Emperor Titus dies of a fever,

and his ambitious
younger brother,

Domitian, succeeds him.

- Domitian and Titus
were not close at all.

So when Titus fell ill
after only two years

of being emperor, some thought
that maybe Domitian

was responsible for his death.

- [grunting]

♪

- He certainly didn't rush
to his brother's bedside.

Instead, he awaited
his brother's death

so that he could immediately
be named emperor.

♪

- At this point in history,
the Roman emperor

is the single most powerful
person in the world.

But as that power grows,
so does the ability

to damage the empire
through misrule.

- While Titus had been
charming and suave,

Domitian was all harsh edges

and paranoid.

In fact, over a dozen senators
are killed by Domitian,

and he is extremely unpopular.

- The more paranoid you are,
the more people you offend,

the more people you execute,

and the less
your own circle trusts you,

then they begin
to fear you too.

♪

- Using the Colosseum
as his stage,

Domitian makes a show
of the power of life and death

he holds over his subjects.

[crowd chanting "Death"]

[crowd booing]

♪

- Get him out of here!

♪

- You have something to say?

♪

- Domitian was
a tyrannical emperor.

He wasn't about
even pretending to believe

in any kind of democracy.

He created a cult
of personality around himself

and wanted no one else's input.

♪

- I see.

You wish to volunteer
for the next event.

[all clamoring]

♪

- Domitian is signaling
a break with the past,

that there was
a new emperor in town.

It's a way to mark him off
as really an autocrat,

as an authoritarian ruler,

a strict disciplinarian
to the point of cruelty.

- [screams]

♪

- His chilling outbursts
extend to every layer

of Roman society.

- All rise.

- Thanks to the writer
Cassius Dio,

we know Domitian held
an infamous dinner party

styled like a funeral
to terrify those present.

- When guests arrived
at the palace,

they were ushered into
a black room, black couches.

Individual guests
were presented

with what looked like
a tombstone

with their name on it.

♪

- This was a way for Domitian
to petrify his guests

and really to show
his autocratic powers

and that it was he who held
the power of life and death

under his regime.

♪

- Over two years,
Domitian's builders

equipped the Colosseum
with a hypogeum,

a labyrinth of structures
underneath the arena floor,

so emperors' spectacles
can be bigger and bloodier.

♪

- The hypogeum housed
about 2 miles of tunnels

on two floors that contained
all of the rooms

where the gladiators
would be kept

and the animals that were
going to be shown.

So it's almost like
an underground city.

- Julius!

♪

- Under the floor
of the Colosseum,

there were elevators.

There were ramps.
There were trapdoors.

There were all sorts
of things that could

enhance the spectacle
for the crowd up above.

- If you're a spectator
sitting in the Colosseum,

all you can see is the sand.

All you can see
is one flat floor.

You have no idea
of what's going on beneath.

♪

- Waiting under the floor
of the Colosseum

for the festivities to begin

would have been kind of a
hellish and surreal experience.

- [growls]

- You would have heard
the cries of injured people.

You would have heard
the growls of wild beasts.

You would see chained criminals
who were awaiting execution.

♪

- All of this
underneath the floor

of an arena that was in use.

So you could hear
the elephants running across.

[elephant trumpets]

You could hear
the crowd shouting

and cheering and chanting.

[crowd cheering]

It must have been
an intoxicating

but pretty horrifying
experience.

[horns blowing]

♪

- People of Rome,
welcome, one and all,

to the greatest games
ever witnessed.

- Nice and strong.

The men are ready.

- By order of the emperor
Domitian,

a spectacle...

[continues indistinctly]

- Let the games begin!

- As the crowds cheer on the
day of the arena's reopening,

Domitian shows Rome
what true power is.

- Domitian really wanted
to demonstrate that he,

in fact, was master of all.

♪

He was autocratic and despotic
and wantonly cruel.

This is a tried and tested
technique of tyrants.

But those who live
by the sword die by the sword.

♪

[crowd yelling]

- Welcome, one and all,

to the greatest games
ever witnessed.

♪

A lone warrior will fight

not 5 or 10

but 20 of the fiercest beasts.

♪

[crowd yelling]

- 83 CE, the opening day
of a new series of games

that Emperor Domitian
promises will be dazzling.

The headline, the most
extravagant beast hunt

ever staged.

♪

- The beast hunts were
much more than just

fighting animals.

It was a way to demonstrate
Roman control

over the entire world,

both the human world
and also the natural world.

[gears clattering]

[crowd yelling]

♪

Domitian really wanted
to demonstrate that he,

in fact, was master of all.

- [snarls]

- He decides to use
the power of the Colosseum

by putting on
the greatest show

that anyone had ever seen.

[crowd cheering]

♪

[crowd yelling]

- At the center
of this deadly spectacle

is a beast master,
or bestiarius,

charged with facing 20 wild
beasts one after the other.

- Beast masters
were enslaved people.

And so therefore,
they were also

a display of Roman domination
over the people

subjected by the Roman Empire.

♪

- The animals underscore
the empire's reach

at a time when it's
approaching its peak.

♪

- You had bears and wolves

and boars
from the north lands.

You had crocodiles
and ostriches from Egypt,

the big cats
from North Africa,

tigers from Asia.

The range of animals
that appeared in the arena

were, in a sense,
a showcase of the power

and the extent of the empire.

♪

- We can estimate
perhaps a million animals

were killed in the Colosseum,
many of whom

were slaughtered
at the hands of beast masters.

[crowd clamoring]

[lion roars]

The result is,
the considerable number

of major species of animals
were eliminated,

simply eliminated,
as the result of Roman appetite

for animals to kill for sport.

♪

[lion roars]

[crowd cheering]

- Domitian's games
were a great success.

The fact that they were
written about to that extent,

that people remembered them,

meant that he had been a hit
with the Roman people.

The games had served
their purpose.

Of course,
that didn't last forever.

In Rome, the love
of the people wasn't enough.

In 96 AD, an increasingly
paranoid and tyrannical

Domitian made enemies among
the Senate, among Rome's elite.

And on their orders,
he was knifed to death.

♪

- Domitian's reign ends
in bloody humiliation.

♪

But his family's legacy
remains

one of Rome's
greatest achievements.

♪

- [growls]

- The Colosseum
will come to symbolize

the rise and fall of Rome.

- It's all there--

the blood, the glory,
the magnificence,

and the flaws that made Rome

the greatest empire
that Europe has ever seen.

♪

- As the empire expands,

it becomes harder
to hold together.

- This was really the future
of the Roman Empire--

waves of incursions
from the Goths and Vandals,

all out to vanquish Italy.

♪

- Its strengths
turned to weaknesses.

- Bring me his head.

- Rome itself
could be finished,

all because of the actions
of one very selfish individual.

♪

- A religious revolution

upsets everything
once held dear.

- Don't! Stop! Stop!

- This was a turning point
in history.

Things were never
going to be the same.

♪

- And one of the greatest
civilizations

in human history
begins to fall.

- This is confrontation
on a colossal scale.

♪

- I'm Attila, the whip of God.

♪